Covered box.



PATE'NTED-SBPT. 22, 1903.

No.y 739,406.

J. H. FB'ARIS'. COVERED BOX. APPLICATION FILEDl un 15,l 1903.

ite. irse-m.

UNITED STATES atented September 22, 1903.

I PATENT OFFICE.

COVERED BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 739,406, dated September 22, 1903?.

Application filed May 15. 1903. Serial No. 157,213. (No modl.)

ered Boxes, of which the following is a specifi-v cation.

This invention relates to improvements in' that class of covered 4boxes in which the lid is held to the box by friction and is likely to be so tightly held upon the box as to make its removal very difficult. For instance, in tin boxes containing shoe-blacking and the like the lids often become so tightly stuck upon the box, as a result either of tight fitting or of fouling, as to call for the use of an implement of some kind in removing the lid.

My invention provides a box having selfcontained provision by means of which tightlyheld lids may be readily removed.

My invention will be readily understood from the following description, taken in con-y nection with the accompanying drawing, which is a diametrical section ofla metallic box of otherwise well-known form, but having added to it my present invention.

In the drawing, l indicates the body of an ordinary circular box; 2, the lid, capping over lthe body and holding thereon by friction; 3, the joint where the lid ts the body; 4, a screw threaded through the center of the lid and having an exterior'head by means of caused to impinge against the bottom of the pasty contents from the box.

box and force the lid from the body, or at least result in so completely loosening it as to permit its ready removal by hand. The threads of the screw may of course be extended clear down to the lower end of the screw; but the omission of threads as indicated in the drawing renders the screw less liable to withdraw The recess 6, if present, serves, by reason of its arching the *piled upon one another. -ployed, serves in forming'a central recess in 6o materialof the bottom of the box, to stien the bottom of the box where it is engaged by the screw, and it serves alsoA to shorten the screw, and it serves also as a receptacle for the head of a screw projecting upwardly from the box below when such boxes as this are Thetube 7, if emthe contents of the box, so that Vthe screw in, reaching the bottom of the boxdoes not need to come into contactwith the contents or penetrate the contents. The central disposition of the screw causes it to exert an equable strain upon the joint uniting the lid to the body and to thereby certainly and promptly loosen the joint, whereas a side disposition of any such screwwould serve rather to cant or cock the lid-.and tighten it unless a plu- 7o rality of screws were employed.

I disclaim, broadly, a Aconstruction i n which a centrally-disposed screw in a lidded box acts tensionally only or construction in which a screw is disposed at one side of the box and acts compressively at onepoint of the periphery ot the wall of the box. Neither-of these constructions attains the object of my invention-namely, the equable application-of separating power simultaneously at all points in 8o the circumferential line of frictional contact between the lid and box.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a coveredy box, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a box-body, a cover frictionally'engaging the body, and a screw with threads centrally engaging the cover and adapted to impinge compressively upon the center of the interior surface of the bottom of the box and having an exterior head.

2. In a covered box, the combination, substantially as set forth, of abox-bod'y, a cover frictionally engaging the body, and a screw with threads centrally engaging the cover and adapted to impinge compressively upon the 95 center of the interiorsurface of the bottom of the box and having an exterior head, the main portion of said screw which projects within the box being without threads.

3. In a covered box, the combination, subroo.

stantially as set forth, of a box-body having its bottom upwardly recessed, a cover frictionally engaging the body, and a screw with adapted to impinge coinpressively upon the center of the interior surface of the bottom of the box over said recess and having an exterior head adapted to enter the corresponding recess in a superposed box.

4g. In a covered box, the co1nbination, sub stantially as set forth, of a box-body having a central upward projection from its bottom, a cover frictionally engaging the body, and a screw centrally engaging the cover and adapted to im'pinge` compressively upon the interior surface of said projection and having an exterior head.

5. In a covered box, the combination, `substantially as set forth, of a box-body, a centrally-disposed tube projecting rigidly upward from the bottom of the box, a cover fricthe center of the interior surface of the other portion and having an exterior head.

JAMES I-I. FEARTS.

I Witnesses: y

SYLVESTER Manx, J. M. KELLUM. 

